Paris to ban drinking alcohol in public as hospitals hit heatwave breaking point

Parisians will ⁠be temporarily banned ​from drinking alcohol in public as hospitals in the capital buckle under a deadly heatwave ‌gripping France ‌and much of Europe.

“We are reaching a saturation point in hospital facilities,” the head of Paris police, Patrice Faure, said on Thursday. He warned the new measures, which include a ban on alcohol takeaway sales, were needed to stem increasing hospitalisations.

“I must ensure that the pressure decreases,” Faure said.

The French health minister, Stéphanie Rist, on Thursday said the ambulance service in Paris had reported four times more cardiac arrests than normal over a 24-hour period. Young people were also suffering cardiac arrests, she said.

The public drinking ban begins at noon on Friday and lasts until 7am Saturday, and then repeats the same hours from Saturday to Sunday. It does not include restaurants and cafes with public seating areas. Takeaway alcohol sales will be banned from 6pm Friday to 7am Saturday, and again 6pm Saturday to 7am Sunday.

Temperatures in Paris hit a June record ⁠of 40.9C (105.6F) on Wednesday and pushed close to 40C on Thursday. At least 48 people have died in France from drowning since the start of the heatwave, and three young children have been killed by heat in cars.

Paris officials have implemented a series of measures to help its 2 million residents cope. Alcohol sales at some public events have already been banned, many schools have closed and parks are staying open around the clock.

The Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, two of the most visited tourist attractions in the world, earlier this week cut their opening hours because of the scorching heat.

More than 44 million people in France, out of a total population of 67 million, have this week been under the highest red alert for heat.

Two nuclear reactors in France were shut down on Thursday to avoid discharging too much hot water into rivers already warming in the record-breaking heatwave.

Earlier this week, soaring temperatures killed hundreds of thousands of birds at poultry farms in Brittany and the Pays de la Loire.

France is forecast to face at least several more days of stifling heat.

With Reuters